Machine for treating flax.



No. 738,668. PATBNTED SEPT.'8,I903.

G. H. ELLIS.

MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX. APPLIFUATIOF FILED MAB. 1, 1902.

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E I WAS PATENTBD SEPT. 8, 1908. G. HQ ELLIS. MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1, 1902.

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v" llmisig No. 738,668. PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1963-' G. H. ELLIS.

MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 1, 1902. 8 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

N0 MODEL.

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- G. H. ELLIS.

MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX.

. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1, 1902.

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PATENTED SEPT. a, 1903.

G. H ELLIS. MAGHINE FOR TREATING PLAX.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1.11902. f 10 MODEL.

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MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX.

APPLIGATIO N FILED HA3. 1, 1902.

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iatcnted September 8,. 1903'.

GEORGE II. ELLIS,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM DEERING,

or EVANSToN, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR TREATING FLAX.

SPEGIFICATIOhlTforming part of Letters Patent N 0. 7 38,668, dated September 8 1 903.

Application filed March 1, 1902- To all whom it may concern.- I

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. ELLIS, of

Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of;

"vice delivers the straw to be operated upon.

Figs, 5, ll, 12, 13,14, and 15 are details of the feeding. mechanism. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are details of construction of-the primary feedingdevices. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the complete machine. Fig 10 is a sectional side elevation of the breaking-rolls and gill-chain.

Fig. 16 is the friction-clutch for driving the primary feeding devices.

My machine is designed for the treatment of flax-straw and production therefrom of a twine suitable for binding grain.

The feeding devices consist of the sloping tables A A and A. On these bundles of flaxstraw are placed. From them they are taken by feeders, which may be best considered by reference to Fig. 4, in which a is a wheel upon theshaft or, having a number of pivoted teeth a Upon the frame is the antifriction-roller a As the wheel revolves the curved teeth 0L2 arecarried around, and when they come in contact with the roller (1 they.

are forced to the position shown by the low- .ermost one in Fig. 4, after which theyare soon set'free from the roller and fold within 1 to rotate with the shaft.

swarm. 96,235. on model.)

Upon this shaft A are the sprocket-wheels a Upon the shaft 0t are the sprocket-wheels a.

wheel a to that a As this mode of driving is common to all three of the primary feeding devices, no further description'need be entered into. I house these chains and sprocket-wheels above by suitable coverings a'. As stated, the straw is moved by these feeding devices into the space A and rests upon the table. In order that the curved feeding-teeth a shall not be so aggressive as to force more straw into the space A than it can take, and thus choke the machine, the feeding-wheels carrying the teeth, while supportedon the shaft A are not driven positively. The sprocket-wheels a are secured a is a chain passing from the sprocketto the shaft A by means of friction-clutches,

I is a cheek-piece as one piece with the sprocketwheel a, both of which are free on the shaft butprevented from longitudinal movement. Upon this same shaft and adjacent to it isa similar cheek-piece A, compelled by a spline Next to this is a spring A ,surrounding the shaft, and to hold the spring in tension against the cheek-piece between A and A may be placed a leather or other soft disk forfriction.

The operation of the feeding devices will be easily understood. The attendant places the flax-straw a bundle at a time upon the table A. It is seized by the packing-teeth, which act yieldingly under. pressure, and passed into the space, A, from which it is taken by B B and B, which will be referred $6 as wisp-layi g Wheels and re adapted ing-wheels may be used; but I prefer three,

as here shown, (numbered 1,2, and 3.) Their construction can be best understood by reference to Fig. 4 and some of the detail figures.

Upon the upper bar of the supportingtoo frame are the shafts I), having the gears 12 thereupon. Also upon the main frame supported upon asuitable stud is the gear 11 having as one piece 'with it the sprocket-wheel b. Upon the shaft A is also secured the sprocket-wheel A wheel and that b is the "chain A. These wheels move in the direction indicated by the arrows in various figures. So far as feeding purposes are concerned the shaft A may be considered as the prime mover. Motion is imparted from the shaft b of the wispfeeding wheel No. 1 (see Figs. 1, 2, and 9) as follows: On the shaftb is secured the gear b. Upon the frame in suitable bearings is the gear I), and upon the shaft 19 ofthe wisp-feeding wheel No. 2 is the gear I). The wisp-feeding wheel No.2 is thus driven, and by precisely the same parts motion is transmitted from wheel No. 2 to wheel No. 3.

The shafts of these wheels are upon the same horizontal plane; but each wheel is ofiset relative to the..other, as shown in Figs. 1 and r 3, for reasons that will soon be understood.

Turning for a moment to Fig. 12 a detail of the wisp-feeding wheel is shown.

B is a plate which when secured by the screws B maintains the plate B in the slot. The purpose ofadjusting the plate B in its place is that the notches B may be increased or decreased in size, so as to regulate thequantity of straw taken, which. adjustment is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 11.

upon it is the double lever D, the long end of which reaches when in its position of rest,as shown in Figs. 5 and 11, to the periphery of thewheel B. The short end of this lever ex,-

, tends a little distance toward the center of the The lever is wheel upon one side thereof. preferably madedouble in effect, as shown in section. in Fig. 5, where upon the opposite side of the wheel another member of the leve-r is placed, one arm thus being upon each side of the wheelB. Upon each of the shafts b is an arm D, having on its ends ashort track.

' The short end d of the lever D extends. in,- ward toward the shaft b and is adapted to engage the short track d upon the end of the arm D. The arm D does not rotate, and; consequently as the wheel rotates, carrying with it they lever D, the short arm strikesth-e track d and causes said lover D to rockfrom a the position shown in Fig. ll'to that shown in the one that is at the lowermost position in Fig. 4. The action will be understood if we suppose that the notch B contains a wisp .ofstraw. As the lever D is actuated by strik- Around this sprocket- (Shown in detail in Figs. 1 and 4.) Pivoted to the arm I) is the pitman D which termi- The wheels are provided with a series of notches The 3 B is a short shaft passing through the wheel 13, and

ing the track (1 the wisp of straw is at once forced from the notch and may fall to the conveyer O. The arm D is free to move on the shaft b. Each wisp-laying wheel is provided with a number of these devices.

Upon the shaft A is a series of cams D mates in a casting D having the antifrictionroller D Upon the shaft A is also an antifriction-roller D The crotched portion of the casting D rests upon the last-mentioned antifriction-roller. As the cam D revolves it is clear that through the instruinentality of the pitman D -the arm D will be rocked, and

consequently the track cl will not always intercept the lever D at the same point. This pitman D is actuated positively in itsv forward direction or tothe left, as shown in. Fig. 4, by the cam D asabove indicated,andits return is efiected by gravity. If desired,

however, a spring may beinterposed betweenv the bolt D which may be moved in a. slot. in

the said arm, and thus regulate the throw of the latter to alimited extent. I find three of the wisp-laying wheels, as. shown in Fig. 1, sufficient for ordinary purposes.

R is a flexible strap, preferably of steel lined with leather, secured; at r to the framework of the machine immediately over the space A of the table and again secured to the framework at r. This strap is wide enough I and drawn tightly enough, to keep its place ,on the wheel. Its-purpose is to hold the wisps that have been engaged by the notches of the wheel until they are in beyond it. The wisps are held by friction in, the notches sufficiently to remain. until forced. therefrom. by the double lever D. We have, it is seen,

' three wheels, each with five n-otchesand preferabl'y revolving at about the same rate of speed, and thus by each revolution fifteen wisps of straw are laid upon the conveyor and distributed across, its entire width. In order that the wisps may not escape the conveyor 0, side boards 0 and O are provided.

If Figs. 2 and 10 be placed together, the bottom of the former against the top. of the latter, the feeding devices so far explained will ,be in proper relation to the breaking mechanism next to be described. The shaft 1) of, the wisp-feeding wheel B, No. 3 of the series, is connected to the shaft E, which is journaled in the bearing 6, suitably supported upon the general'frame structure, as shown in Fig. 10. Upon brackets E are the jour- IIO beariugs on the bars F of the framework. These bars aresecured to the vertical part E of the'general frame of the feeding devices,

' as shown in-Fig. 10. The bars F are braced to the general framework of the feeding devices by the rods f At the delivery end of the conveyer C are the fluted rollers G: and G, which deliver the straws upon'the conveyer O to the said gillchain. Immediately above the gill-chain is the trundle -.wheel G which presses the straws upon the gill-chain. maybe of any ordinary structure and driven in anydesired manner. Movement may be given to the conveyerO in any manner desired.

H and H are strong metallic posts connected by cross-bars H Upon these rest the strong bar H This framework helps to also sustain the bars F, upon which the bearings e of the shafts of the gill-chain are supported.

Uponthe bar 111 are two series of pillowblocks h, h, h h i, h W, h, 72 h and h As the pillow-blocks upon the two 'sides of the frame are duplicates, little further need i be said. In these pillow-blocks are j on rnaled rollers .73 j; .7 It .7 J j .719 and J"- These pillow-blocks also form bearings for a series of fluted rollers 't', 'i,.t' 2' 1' 2"", 1 ,1 i and 1 These rollers, with those j, j, 7'

pose of breaking-rolls, and as they do not difier in form or function it is not necessary to describe them except to say that the roll- .ers '1: and j are larger than those that follow I and the rollers 'i i i and'j, 7' and j have flutes of greater pitch than those following them in the line of movement ofthe straw in passing from the gill-chain onward. In order to give the various rollers rotation, a

shaftKis journaled at the delivery end of the framework, as shown'in Fig. 9. Upon thisshaft are secured two bevel-gears lo, only (See Fig. 9.) 1

one, however, being, shown. On each side of the frame which supports the of breaking-rollers. ,-The lay-shaft K onoue side of .the machine, with itspinion, is adapt-. ed. to drive, each alternate roller, the other.

side being correspondinglyarranged, so that all of thelower rollers are thus given a posi- The gill-chain tive motion. Thepairsof rollers being correspondingly fluted, the upper ones in .mesh

with the lower ones will thus receive motion.

Secured to the shaft K is the driving'pulley K'. The shaft K serves as motive power for the gill-chain and breaking-rollers. Upon this shaft is also secured a driving-pulley, the pulley itself notbeing shown, but itsposition indicated by the belt K in Fig. 9. Around this driving-pulley passes the belt K extending to and engaging the pulley K4, which is secured to the shaft E By this last belt power is transmitted to the feeding devices, as first explained. The upper members of the series of breaking-rollers may be driven in any suitable manner.

Nand N are smooth rollers, the latter upon the shaft K, which receive the broken straws from the last pair of the series of breaking rollers and draw them therefrom. In order to take the mass of straw, which by the 0peration has become practically a sliver therefrom, I apply the smooth roller N which deflects the straw downward along the guide 0, from which it is drawn by the rollers O and 0 The last-named rollers are geared together and are given movement by the chain S, passing from the rollers above to the shaft of the roller 0 or motion may be imparted in any desired manner. x

I find it very advantageous to have the flaxstraws in a dry condition before operating them in order that the woody portions may break more easily and separate from the fiber, and I also find that if the cortices are slightly dampened they are less injured by the action of the breaking-rollers than otherwise. In connection with the last statement it should be added that in order to have the cortices ofthe flax-straw properly affected by moisture without imparting any moisture to the inte rior of the stalk the application of same must.

1867; but in this case cited and in others where an application of" water is made the manner and form in which it is applied could not avoid wetting the interior of the stalk,

and suchwetting would defeat the purpose for which I apply itnamely, that of tougheningthe cortices without wetting, andthus toughening. the interior of the stalk. It follows, therefore, that it is of the utmost importance that-water be applied in a finely-divided state in distinction from Water applied-in a stream or in drops of appreciable size. Wa-

ter applied in quantities aggregating a drop of a sensiblesize or larger would immediately upon contacting the straw penetrateto. and wet the interior to a degree that would greatly impair theeffectiveness of theusubsequent actionof the breaking-rollers; In order toj pass out.

fully shown in the drawings, as it, forms no' or pipes P, having jets p, preferably placing .the said pipe or pipes over the endless conveyer, as shown in Fig. 2. These jets are boxed in by the covering Q and side boards q in order to increase their efiectiveness. The ends are left open, so that the mass of straws carried by the conveyor may enter and Instead of using steam-jets, however, as above described, to dampen the straw an air-blast may be used in connection with a stream of water to produce an aqueous vapor.

In smaller machines I do away with the priniary feeding devices and place the bundle of straw on the table at A and with suitable pressure hold it against the wisp-feeding wheel, by which it is taken and deposited on the endless conveyer C. If the axes of the wisp-feeding wheels were all in line, by the action of the double lever D in controlling the point at which the wisps are dropped the said wisps would be spread upon the canvas,

but not as thoroughly as by having the three wisp-feeding wheels placed as shown.

The means for actuating the rollers is not part of this invention. The general means,

however, is made plain.

Having described the machine, its operation may bebriefly described as follows: Flax-straw is placed upon the sloping feeding-tables A adjacent to the primary feeding devices, against which it is constantly fed and held by the slope of the said tables. The arms a of the wheels at of the primary feeding device engage the straw anddeliver itto the space A adjacent to the wisp -laying wheels. This space A is kept constantly full, while undue pressure of the straw therein is prevented by the said yielding arms a and also by the friction-clutch controlling the movement of the said feeding device. The straw from this space A is pressed into the notches B in the rotating-wisp-laying produced by the pitman D and actuatingcam D as previously described.

In this manner wisps of straw are deposited at relative varying times and distances upon the saidconveyer C. With three wisp-laying wheels each provided with five notches, as

shown, it follows that fifteen wisps of straw will be deposited upon the conveyer O for these fifteen wisps will be uniformly disposed both laterally and longitudinally. In this manner an even swath isformed and fed to the drawing-chains and breaking-rollers. Before it is delivered to the said drawing-chains and breaking-rollers it is subjected to the action of vapor of water by the jets p of the steam-pipe P for the purpose already stated. The details of the subsequent operation need not be dwelt upon further than to say that the operation is one of ordinary breaking and drawing in the well-known way.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a receiving-table,-

of each wheel ofiset laterally relative to the other wheels, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a receptacle, a wisplaying wheel adapted to take the straw therefrom, a conveyer and means whereby the place of deposit of the wisp upon the conveyer is made variable, substantially as described.

4. A receiving-table, a wisp laying device consisting of the wheel B provided with notches and means for forcing the wisps from said notches at progressively-varying times, substantially as described.

5. The wisp-laying wheel provided with notches and the lever for forcing the wisps out of said notches, an automatically-moved track for controlling the action of said lever in forcing the wisps from the notches, all combined substantially as described.

6. The wisp --laying wheel provided with notches and the lever for forcing the wisps out of saidnotches, an automatically-moved track for controlling the action of said lever in forcing the wisps from the notches, the said track vibrating about a center coincident with the center of rotation of said wisplaying wheel, substantially asv described.

7. A series of primary feeding devices, a series of wisp-laying wheels, the axes thereof offset laterally and the said wisp-laying wheels adapted to deposit the wisps at progressivelyvarying times, a conveyer, the gill-chain and breaking-rolls, all combined substantially as described.

8. A wisp-laying wheel, a conveyer,drawingand breaking devices, and means whereby the place of deposit of the wisps upon'the conveyer is automatically controlled, substantially as described.

9. A feeding device, a wisp-laying wheel, a conveyer, drawing and breaking devices, and means whereby the place of deposit of the wisps upon the conveyeris automatically controlled, substantially as described.

10. A series of feeding devices, a series of wis -la ing wheels, a'conve er drawing and breaking devices, and means whereby the place of deposit of .the wisps upon the con,-

veyerisautomaticallycontrolled,allcombined substantially as described.

11. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination the breaking-rollers and means for depositing moisture in a vaporous form upon the material being operated upon for toughening the cortices thereof, the said means for depositing the moisture being locatedoperatively in advance of the said b'reakingrollers, substantially as described.

12. In a-flaX-breaking machine, the combination of the breaking-rollers and a dampening devicefor toughening the cortices of the flax-straw, the said dampening device consisting of steam -jets located in a position adapting them to operate upon the cortices of the flax-straw between the said feeding device and the said breaking-rollers,substantially as described. v

13. In a flax-breaking machine, in combination breakingrrollers, a feeding device and means for depositing moisture in a vaporous form upon the material being operated upon for toughening the cortices thereof, the said means for depositing moisture being located operatively in advance of the said breakingrollers, substantially as described.

l4. In a flax-breaking machine, the combination of the feeding device, the breakingrollers and a dampening device for toughen- 

